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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27671164">Mostly dead things</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dannyphantomyeetme/pseuds/dannyphantomyeetme'>dannyphantomyeetme</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Danny Phantom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood, Danny is in over his head, Ghost Cores (Danny Phantom), M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Minor Character Death, Monster - Freeform, Monsters, Obsessions, Sort Of, Spirits, Tags and description may change, Tw: parentification, Unidentified Flying Ship, minor gore</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 23:34:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,524</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27671164</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dannyphantomyeetme/pseuds/dannyphantomyeetme</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The deaths of several local teenagers cause Danny to investigate a previously undiscovered part of the supernatural world. Wes's search for proof of one of his theories goes awry when he spends the night at an abandoned theater.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Danny Fenton &amp; Vlad Masters, Danny Fenton/Wesley Weston, Jazz Fenton &amp; Easton Weston</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>50</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Other than a few vague ideas, I have about as much knowledge of where this fic is gonna go as you probably do. I'm gonna be upfront: I don't know how this ends.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Danny had never met the spirit of a dead person.</p><p>Okay, that wasn't exactly true. Desiree was the spirit of a dead person. So were Ember, the ghostwriter, the Lunch Lady, Walker, and even Cujo, though he was not the spirit of a person.</p><p>But those were ghosts. They'd been dead for long enough that they didn't really remember their lives. They were beings of ectoplasmic power who existed only to fulfill their obsessions and cause a little mayhem in the process. Sometimes they remembered dying, to an extent, but most of them didn't even look like what they'd looked like during their lives anymore and wouldn't be able to tell you their birth name if you put an ectogun to their head and demanded they fess up.</p><p>It wasn't the same.</p><p>The first time Danny met a genuine spirit was, for lack of a better word, traumatic.</p><p>He was walking home from school with Sam and Tucker when his ghost sense stopped him in his tracks. Sam and Tucker, usually attuned enough to his ghost sense to notice the fog escaping his mouth even when other people didn't, gave him a strange look as they paused their step.</p><p>"What're you doing, dude?" Tucker asked.</p><p>When he didn't answer, Sam waved a hand in front of his eyes.</p><p>"Danny?"</p><p>But Danny was too busy staring ahead, at the woman who was sat on her knees in the middle of the road, crying.</p><p>Well, really she was floating a couple of inches above the road.</p><p>There were no flames. There was no glow. She had curly brown hair and big, dark eyes. She looked normal. Human.</p><p>Except for the fact that her neck and arm were bent at an unnatural angle, and he could see through her if he squinted.</p><p>Pushing Sam's hand away, Danny approached the woman. She was wearing a grey T-shirt stained with wet blood. Not ectoplasm; actual blood.</p><p>"Um. Hello?" Danny asked, keeping his voice as soft and non-threatening as possible.</p><p>"Who're you talking to?" Tucker asked from behind him. Danny ignored him.</p><p>The woman looked up. He knew she'd been crying, but no tears were staining her cheeks. Her eyes were clear.</p><p>She looked surprised.</p><p>"You can see me?"</p><p>"Yeah," Danny said. His mouth felt unusually dry and though he wasn't cold, goosebumps were raised on his arms. "Yeah, miss, I can see you."</p><p>"Please," the woman said. "My baby! You have to help me find my baby!" She began crying again.</p><p>Sam put a hand on his shoulder, but Danny shook it off, stepping closer to the woman and crouching down in front of her.</p><p>"Okay," he said calmly. "Don't worry. We'll find him."</p><p>"She's a girl," the woman said. "Her name's Valerie."</p><p>Danny froze.</p><p>"Danny?" Sam asked uncertainly.</p><p>Jaw tightening, Danny turned to his friends and stood, hands balled into fists at his sides. Like everyone in their small town, he knew the story of Emily Gray, Valerie's mom who had died when Valerie was barely one year old. A truck had swerved onto the wrong side of the road and collided with her car head-on, killing her instantly. </p><p>He didn't know if this was the road it had happened on. He supposed it didn't matter.</p><p>Looking back, Danny would have done it differently. But at that moment he didn't know what to do. He shrugged off his backpack and took out the Fenton thermos slowly. His movements were almost mechanical.</p><p>The thermos wouldn't have activated if there hadn't been a ghost to trap. Sam and Tucker might not have been able to see Emily, but the bright light that sucked her inside told them in no uncertain terms that their friend, at the very least, wasn't going crazy.</p><p>"There was a ghost?" Tucker asked.</p><p>"Yeah," Danny said. He put the thermos away. "Let's just go home."</p><p>Later, he released Emily into the ghost zone. It would be a long time until he saw her again.</p><p>-</p><p>Generally, spirits didn't cause much trouble. Not in the way ghosts did. But Danny would learn that there were more things hiding in the dark.</p><p>On patrol three weeks after he'd turned sixteen, Danny spotted movement in the form of a flicker of light at the abandoned bowling alley. He figured it was just a couple of squatters using the empty building as a place to sleep, especially since his ghost sense didn't respond even when he flew close to it, but it couldn't hurt to do a quick sweep.</p><p>A layer of dust covered everything inside. The place was empty.</p><p>Just as Danny was about to phase outside again, he heard a noise.</p><p>Just as he turned his head, the creature lurched at him from the dark.</p><p>It looked human, in the loosest definition of the term: it had two arms and two legs in the spots where arms and legs ought to be. But it had a round mouth with several rows of sharp, pointy teeth, sharp claws in place of hands, and bright red eyes. It was wearing jeans and a basketball jersey and had messy black hair.</p><p>It looked like someone he knew. A kid he'd seen around the halls of Casper High.</p><p>His ghost sense still wasn't reacting.</p><p>Danny dodged when the creature attempted to grab him and readied an ectoblast in one hand. The thing was too fast to shoot at, though. It was in one place one second, and another the next. It growled menacingly as it jumped towards him, and Danny dodged again.</p><p>"Get away!" he shouted.</p><p>He threw the ectoblast. As he'd expected, it missed its mark entirely, but it lit up the space behind the monster for just a fraction of a second, showing Danny an image that he wouldn't be able to unsee for weeks to come.</p><p>A teenage boy with black hair and wide, glassy, unblinking eyes, sprawled on the floor.</p><p>Blood pooled around his head and torso and a sizable chunk was missing from its side. Either a corpse had taken the form of a student, or whatever had killed him looked exactly like its prey.</p><p>Danny had to stop; had to dry-heave for air in a desperate attempt not to throw up what little dinner he'd managed to eat before he'd snuck out of the house. It was a long enough pause that the monster managed to grab him.</p><p>They fell to the ground, a tangle of limbs. The monster was on top of him, drool dripping from its mouth. Where it dropped onto Danny's skin, it burned.</p><p>No matter how hard Danny tried, he couldn't phase out of its grip.</p><p>He screamed.</p><p>It was the scream that saved his life. Green beams of energy accompanied the noise, and the creature was thrown off him. It slammed into the ceiling and then dropped to the floor, unmoving.</p><p>Danny stood, shuddered, and kicked the monster for good measure. A wet squelch made him lose the battle against his own stomach, and he bent over and threw up everything he'd eaten that day.</p><p>The monster was dead, that much was clear.</p><p>Danny got out of there as fast as he could.</p><p>-</p><p>
  <strong> <em> "Tonight on the channel four news: a local teenager was found dead at Amity Park Lanes. Authorities claim one Hector Greenwich died of an animal attack, but local ghost hunters Jack and Maddie Fenton are skeptical. More at eight." </em> </strong>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. chapter one: nothing but death</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i'm terrible at having a consistent writing style. you guys are gonna have to bear with me. this is more about the story than the way the story is written.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong> BODY OF MISSING TEEN FOUND INSIDE ABANDONED WATER PARK </strong>
</p><p>
  <em> Dog walker makes grim discovery after dog runs off </em>
</p><p><strong> Tiffany Snow  </strong>Amity Park | Monday 5 October 2020</p><p>The victim, seventeen-year-old Elliot Baker, was reported missing by his mother late Friday morning after leaving the house during an argument the night before.</p><p>Though Baker was found with several wounds similar to the animal attacks police have been investigating since late September, chief of police Robert Colain has issued a statement saying it was most likely blunt force trauma to the head that killed him.</p><p>Colain: "As of right now we are treating [Baker]'s death as an active murder case. If anyone saw any suspicious activity near Floody Waters on the night of Thursday the first, please don't hesitate to call us."</p><p>-</p><p>The sun was setting over Amity Park. For most of the small town's citizens, this meant the end of a long day. Children were settling into bed, adults were taking some time for themselves, and teenagers were either bent over homework or, in Danny's case, pointedly ignoring the pile that had managed to accumulate on their desk over the past three weeks.</p><p>Danny was sat in front of his computer, eyebrows drawn into a frown as he stared at his screen, one hand on his mouse and the other hovering over the W, A, S, and D keys.</p><p>"Danny!"</p><p>The teen sighed.</p><p>His mother's shout from downstairs had distracted him for just long enough, and Tucker had killed his character. Leaning back in his chair so he could look through his open door, Danny shouted:</p><p>"Whaaaat?!"</p><p>"Someone's on the phone for you!"</p><p>Danny shook his head to himself. Again? Couldn't he learn to call his cell? Or text? They were sixteen, for crying out loud!</p><p>"Coming!"</p><p>Danny was dressed in a faded NASA shirt and pajama pants. One of his socks had a hole in it, through which his big toe poked out.</p><p>He didn't look like he was planning to go out again today.</p><p>Really, he was just waiting for his parents to go to bed so he could sneak out and go on patrol, but that wouldn't be for another couple of hours.</p><p>Danny bounded down the stairs and peered into the kitchen.</p><p>"Who is it?" he asked, though he knew the answer.</p><p>Maddie gestured distractedly to the phone, which was lying on the breakfast table. She was bent over something on the kitchen counter, and Danny shuddered when he saw what it was.</p><p><em> Just what I need</em>, he thought. <em>More guns. </em></p><p>He picked up the phone and pressed it to his ear.</p><p>"Hello?"</p><p><em> "Phantom," </em>Wes said. <em>"Who's got two thumbs and is about to prove gnomes exist?" </em></p><p>"Gee, I'm guessing you?"</p><p>Danny walked out of the kitchen and leaned against the wall in the hallway, just in case the sound coming from the phone was loud enough for his mother to hear.</p><p>"Please tell me you didn't call my mom and ask for... that name, just to annoy me."</p><p>
  <em> "If it makes you feel any better, I don't think she realized I wasn't asking for 'Fenton'. Your parents are pretty oblivious, dude." </em>
</p><p>"Wes," Danny said. Coming from his mouth, the name was an accusation. He pinched the bridge of his nose.</p><p>Danny and Wes weren't friends. Not exactly.</p><p>Wes constantly tried to prove to everyone that Danny was the ghost boy. Danny, in retaliation, pulled as many mean-spirited pranks on Wes as he could. </p><p>But still, they had an understanding of sorts. At least, they did so long as they weren't at school.</p><p>"Look," Danny said. "Why are you telling me this?"</p><p><em> "Oh! On a scale of one to ten, how dangerous would it be to stay the night at the Amity theater?" </em>Wes asked. There was a shout from somewhere on his side of the line, and Wes returned it with a muffled: <em>"I'm on the phone!" </em></p><p>"Well..." Danny hesitated.</p><p>He hadn't told anyone about the monster he'd fought yet. Part of him was convinced he'd imagined the entire thing.</p><p>For one, he'd left a dead monster near the body of his classmate but Hector had been found with no proof of what killed him around.</p><p>Also, the police were pretty sure people were dying from animal attacks. His parents thought they were ghost attacks, but that was to be expected.</p><p>
  <em> "That sounds like at least a six to me." </em>
</p><p>Maybe it had just been a dog. Maybe seeing a dead body had been traumatic enough that Danny's memory was playing tricks on him...</p><p>
  <em> "Phantom! Yo. Am I gonna get an answer?" </em>
</p><p>"I mean, I assume you're not stupid enough to go anywhere alone," Danny said. "Police orders, you know."</p><p><em> "Easton's coming," </em>Wes told him. <em>"Okay, I gotta go. Dad's on the fritz. See you tomorrow." </em></p><p>"See ya," Danny answered, but Wes had already hung up.</p><p>"That boy again?" Maddie asked when Danny went to put the phone back on its charger. There was a glint in her eyes Danny didn't like. "I thought the two of you didn't get along?"</p><p>"We don't," Danny said.</p><p>He ignored his mother's smile and booked it out of the kitchen.</p><p>-</p><p>Just outside the city limits, on a path that eventually led into the woods, two men walked.</p><p>They were both tall, though one of them was just slightly taller than the other. They both wore white suits and sunglasses, though the sky had long since darkened.</p><p>One of them held an EMF reader.</p><p>In Amity Park, any and all ghost detecting technology would react at least a little bit when turned on. Though ghosts weren't permanently around, residing mostly in the ghost zone, ectoplasm seemed to have seeped into the very air. It had been that way for two years now, and the Guys in White no longer questioned it.</p><p>Low readings meant there was nothing around.</p><p>"East perimeter clear," said the taller of the two agents into a communicator on his wrist. "It's quiet tonight."</p><p><em> "Be careful anyway, agent G," </em>answered a female voice. <em>"You never know what's lurking in the woods these days." </em></p><p>Agent G shrugged, though his boss couldn't see it. He turned to the agent next to him, who was holding the EMF reader. It was an old model, and it buzzed like an old computer that had got too hot.</p><p>"Turn that off, will you?" he said. "There's nothing out here."</p><p>His colleague, agent S, nodded and turned the device off. Abruptly their surroundings were quiet.</p><p>"There's been no ghostly activity for days," said agent G. "Unless you count Phantom, but still. I don't like it. They're up to something."</p><p>Agent S didn't respond. He was a quiet man, nearing sixty. Pretty soon he'd be retiring. Just then, he had a thoughtful look on his face.</p><p>He turned to agent G.</p><p>"Do you notice how quiet it is?"</p><p>"What do you mean?" agent G asked.</p><p>"We're near the woods. We should be hearing animals, bugs. Hell, even a bird or something."</p><p>Agent G paused his step, cocking his head as he listened. Agent S followed his example.</p><p>The men waited.</p><p>There was a rustle in the bushes.</p><p>"See?" Agent G asked. "Animals."</p><p>"I guess y-"</p><p>Something lunged out of the dark.</p><p>Agent G couldn't see what it was. One moment there was nothing there, the next agent S went tumbling to the ground with <em>something </em>on top of him.</p><p>At first, agent G thought it was an animal. It certainly wasn't a ghost. It didn't glow or shoot lasers.</p><p>But then... no animal could look like that.</p><p>Agent S screamed and then abruptly went quiet as the monster tore into his throat. Agent G backed away, too afraid to react.</p><p>Once agent S was dead, the monster began to rise on two legs.</p><p>It was tall, impossibly so. Its limbs were thin and its body was covered in fur. Horns grew out of its head. When it stood to its full height, which had to be almost ten feet, its sharp claws dragged across the ground.</p><p>It began to turn towards agent G and as it did, it <em>changed</em>.</p><p>Greyson ran.</p><p>"Fiona!" he shouted into his communicator. "There's a-"</p><p>And then agent S, who wasn't really agent S, was on him.</p><p>Greyson felt claws digging into his back as he stumbled. His palms hit the ground with a <em>SMACK</em>.</p><p>The monster fed, ignoring the frantic voice of a woman coming from its prey's wrist, demanding a status update.</p><p>-</p><p>
  <strong> Anything suspicious out tonight? -Tuck </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> nah. heading home soon. -danny </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> DO YOUR HOMEWORK -Sam </strong>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. chapter two: death in the water</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>chapter warning: i guess something that happens in here could count as major character death? sort of.</p><p>btw please don't think that i'm the kind of person who posts daily. that just happens to be how it is right now but i'm very inconsistent.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The theater was vaguely familiar.</p><p>Easton suppressed a shiver as he walked between the rows of seats, shining around his flashlight.</p><p>Amity theater had been closed down indefinitely when he was six, but before that he had no doubt come here to watch movies with his parents. It wasn't something he could consciously remember, but the feeling of déjà vu told him all he needed to know.</p><p>Room six looked like it could be reopened any day. Though the main hall looked like it had been looted at least six times over, it didn't seem like vandals had ever made it into this part of the building. Other than a layer of dust and a whole bunch of cobwebs, the place had the eerie feeling of being abandoned mid-movie.</p><p>There was even still a coat in one of the seats, covered in a layer of grime that was no doubt the result of not just months but years of being left unbothered.</p><p>"Tell me why I let you talk me into this again?" Easton asked.</p><p>Wes shrugged. His eyes were wide as saucers as he looked around. He couldn't have looked more like a kid in a candy store if he'd tried.</p><p>"You insisted," Wes said.</p><p>It was true.</p><p>No way was Easton letting his little brother stay out all night by himself right now. If anything happened to Wes, dad would have Easton's ass.</p><p>He was supposed to take care of his brothers. That was his job.</p><p>Besides, he'd just be up all night worrying if he hadn't come along, and there was no way to stop Wes once he'd decided to do something.</p><p>"No way am I getting the blame for your idiot ass getting mauled by a dog." Easton followed his brother to the front of the room. Underneath the movie-screen, Wes dropped his backpack to the floor and began to unroll his sleeping bag. Easton followed suit. "Especially on a school night."</p><p>"I'm not gonna get mauled," Wes said. "How would a dog even get in here?"</p><p>"It got into Amity Park Lanes."</p><p>"Maybe it got in through a window that time. I don't know about you, but I don't see any windows and I closed the door when we came in."</p><p>Easton sighed.</p><p>Why couldn't Wes be just a little bit more like Kyle? Kyle didn't come up with these wild plans he absolutely had to follow through with. He was a quiet kid who didn't like to go looking for danger. Heck, he didn't even believe in ghosts!</p><p>Then again, Easton had also found himself wishing Kyle was more like Wes before. The twin brothers seemed to be a mirror-image of one another... in that they were exact opposites. For every trait Easton didn't like about one of them, the other had a trait he loved and vise versa.</p><p>"Well, still. If you keep me up all night, I'm gonna be pretty pissed."</p><p>"I'll only wake you up if I see a gnome. How about that?" Wes asked.</p><p>Easton rolled his eyes.</p><p>If only.</p><p>-</p><p>Ripples of water interrupted the stillness of Lake Eerie.</p><p>On another night, Vlad might have stopped to admire the scenery. With no moon to speak of, the stars were so bright Vlad could see the entire milky way.</p><p>Daniel would have loved it.</p><p>Of course, to the naked human eye, the sky would have been dark with only a few pin-pricks of light, and the forest would have been impossible to navigate.</p><p>Vlad didn't have those pesky human troubles, though. In ghost form, he saw the world differently.</p><p>And though he heard and saw nothing, he sensed the creature lurking in the water.</p><p>Was it watching him? Vlad couldn't tell. But he wasn't here to bother with the ghost of the lake monster anyway. He had come here, all the way to Illinois from Wisconsin, to visit Camp Skull and Crossbones, a camp which had been closed down for years but which he and Jack had gone to every summer as kids.</p><p>Vlad floated across the campgrounds, barely looking around as he did.</p><p>He was headed for cabin eight and though it had been years, he could have made it there with his eyes closed.</p><p>Going intangible, he entered through the wall.</p><p>The cabin was empty now. Where once there had been bunk beds, a desk, and a closet, there was nothing but floor.</p><p>Vlad landed on his two feet and, eyes narrowed, looked around.</p><p>Even empty, this cabin sure did bring back memories...</p><p>He shook his head.</p><p>No time for a trip down memory lane. What had passed was past. </p><p>The hybrid crouched down and lifted one of the floorboards. He reached into the darkness, and when he pulled back his hand, he held within his grasp...</p><p>Nothing.</p><p>"Blast!" Vlad said. He stood, crossing his arms. "Jack must have taken it during our last summer here. Even as a child the oaf was thwarting me."</p><p>He rubbed his forehead, eyes closed.</p><p>"Well, at least I'm already in the neighborhood..."</p><p>In the distance, an owl answered his one-sided conversation.</p><p>-</p><p>"Easton?"</p><p>Wes heard his brother groan. He turned onto his side, looking at the lump in the dark where Easton was sleeping. Or had been sleeping, before Wes had woken him up.</p><p>"What?" Easton asked.</p><p>"Did you hear that?"</p><p>"No."</p><p>Wes sat up slowly, looking around the theater. He'd been asleep, albeit uneasily, when a clang of some kind had snapped him abruptly into consciousness.</p><p>But now, the room was silent again.</p><p>"I swear, I heard something."</p><p>"Wes, it's fucking..." There was some rustling, then the bright light of Easton's phone screen. "Four in the morning. Go back to sleep."</p><p>Wes laid back down, though he was stiff as a board.</p><p>He felt nervous. Like he was being watched.</p><p>A moment passed.</p><p>"Easton?" Wes said again.</p><p>"What?" Easton sounded more irritated by the second.</p><p>"Maybe we should just go home. I don't think we're gonna find any gnomes."</p><p>"Oh, my God." Easton sat up. Though it was too dark to see his face very clearly, Wes could tell his brother was glaring at him just by the tone of his voice. "Really? You wanna go home <em>now</em>?"</p><p>"I just-"</p><p>"I told you if you kept me up, I'd be pissed."</p><p>"But Easton-"</p><p>"No, you-"</p><p>"Easton!"</p><p>Suddenly, a large figure loomed in the darkness behind Easton, or maybe it had been there already and Wes hadn't noticed.</p><p>Wes couldn't see it very clearly, but it was too big to be anything Wes had ever seen before. He might have thought he was imagining the figure in the dark if he hadn't seen the reflection of light in its eyes. It was that flare that alerted him to the creature in the first place.</p><p>There was a wet squelch, then a thump and a scream. Wes wasn't sure if it had come from him or Easton.</p><p>Wes scrambled for his flashlight, but then it wouldn't click on. Meanwhile, he tried to get out of his sleeping bag. Easton had gone completely quiet now, lying on the floor with the creature crouched over him.</p><p>Now that Wes knew where it was, he couldn't believe he hadn't been aware of it all along.</p><p>Wes managed to climb to his feet, and just then, the flashlight turned on.</p><p>There was blood everywhere. Easton's eyes were wide, staring up at his attacker. His hand twitched, but already he had lost too much blood to really move.</p><p>The creature on top of him was large. It was covered in black fur and had two horns sticking out of its vaguely human-shaped head. Large claws had sunk into both sides of Easton's chest, and... what was it doing?</p><p>Oh, God...</p><p>It was <em>eating </em>Easton alive. It ripped a piece from his throat, chewed, swallowed.</p><p>And then, it looked up at Wes.</p><p>Later, Wes would hate himself. He would kick himself over and over, wishing he'd acted differently. He'd scream and cry and rave at himself, certain that if he'd just made a different choice at that moment, Easton might still be alive.</p><p>There are certain moments in your life, in which your body will act on autopilot. Thinking about those moments with a clear head, you might think you know how you'll react.</p><p>No matter what Wes would tell himself later, at that moment there was no real choice. If there was, the adrenaline made it for him.</p><p>As Easton saw a distorted version of Easton's face where the monster's features should have been, his brain shut off.</p><p>He dropped the flashlight and ran.</p><p>-</p><p>"Nine one one, what is your emergency?"</p><p>
  <em> "S- Something attacked us! I... I think my b-b-brother..." </em>
</p><p>"Sir?"</p><p>
  <em> "I think he's dead." </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>the title of this chapter is because of the lakemonster. i'm trying to have every title in this fic have the word "death" in it because reasons, so...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. chapter three: dead to the touch</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm not happy with this chapter. Pretty much everything I wanted to happen happened, but the way I wrote it isn't sitting right with me. The story's really, genuinely starting now, though. And hey, nobody dies in this chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sun was rising.</p><p>Amity Park was beginning to come alive. Alarm clocks were going off. Children were getting ready for school while their parents rushed to drop them off before they'd have to arrive at work themselves.</p><p>Walter's morning went a little differently. For one, he'd never left his job.</p><p>Awakening with his head on his desk, papers sticking to his face, and a headache that was guaranteed to ruin his day, Walter reached for the source of incessant ringing that had snapped him out of his slumber.</p><p>In his blind fumbling, he knocked a mug of yesterday's coffee to the carpet. His head raised, and he blinked.</p><p>"Fuck."</p><p>Walter's office was by no means small. There were large, floor-to-ceiling windows behind him that made it look even bigger. He was on the eighth floor and with buildings all around that were even taller than this one, his view wasn't great, but there were pictures on the walls of Walter's family, as well as framed diplomas. There were also old drawings his kids had made that he'd never bothered to take down and probably never would.</p><p>Walter liked his office, even if he didn't like how much time he spent there.</p><p>The ringing stopped and then immediately restarted. Walter took a moment to rub at his face, and then his office was silent again.</p><p>"Boy, you're hard to reach."</p><p>Walter looked to the doorway. He hadn't heard the door open, but now Easton was standing there, leaning against the doorframe.</p><p>He looked tired, or maybe sick. He was paler than usual. He was still wearing the clothes he'd been wearing yesterday.</p><p>Oh, right, his little outing with Wes.</p><p>"So," Walter said. "Find any gnomes?"</p><p>Easton snorted.</p><p>The phone rang again. Walter reached for it and pressed it to his ear.</p><p>"Walter Weston speaking."</p><p><em> "Dad!" </em>It was Wes's voice on the other end of the line. His voice was tinny and far away, like one of them didn't have the best service or like something was distorting the connection. <em>You have to come home. You have to come home right now!" </em></p><p>"Why? What's wrong?" Walter asked, suddenly worried.</p><p>Wes began to cry.</p><p>
  <em> "Ea-Easton. He-" </em>
</p><p>Easton snatched the phone out of Walter's hand.</p><p>Usually, Walter would have been irritated, but just then, all he could do was reel back from the touch of his son's hand.</p><p>He felt <em>wrong.</em> Walter had the urge to rub the spot where his son's skin had touched him until it was clean.</p><p>And how had he gotten across the room so fast?</p><p>"Hey, bro," Easton said. "What'd you go running off for?"</p><p>Easton listened to Wes's answer. Walter couldn't hear what Wes said, but he could make out the tone of his voice.</p><p>Wes sounded somewhat hysterical.</p><p>"No, I'm fine," Easton said. "I think you were imagining things, kiddo. It was just a dog."</p><p>More hysterical shouting. This time, Walter caught the words 'monster' and 'ate'.</p><p>He shuddered at the expression that crossed Easton's face. For a split second, his oldest child looked absolutely <em>furious.</em></p><p>Then, he was back to amused indifference.</p><p>"It was a dog," he repeated. "It was literally just licking my face. I don't know what you're talking about." A pause. "Fine, be that way. I'll see you at home." He hung up.</p><p>"Everything okay?" Walter asked.</p><p>His heart was beating fast. When Easton's eyes turned on him, he had to repress the urge to lean backward in his seat.</p><p>Why did he suddenly want Easton to be as far away from him as possible?</p><p>"Fine," Easton said. "I actually came here to call Wes. Lost my phone. Guess that's all figured out now."</p><p>"What happened, East?" Walter asked. Anxiety gnawed at his stomach.</p><p>And then Easton smiled. It was the usual, easygoing smile that Walter knew Easton had learned to force just to make other people feel better. It seemed genuine enough right then.</p><p>There was nothing about Easton that suggested anything was wrong, but Walter couldn't get the feeling of his touch out of his mind.</p><p>"Wes just got freaked out. You know how he is."</p><p>"I- I guess..."</p><p>"I'm gonna head home," Easton said. "I have to get the twins ready for school, and Wes'll feel better once he sees I didn't get eaten by a dog." He laughed.</p><p>"Yeah..." Walter nodded slowly. "Um. I'll be home later."</p><p>Easton beamed, and Walter relaxed.</p><p>How could he be afraid when his son was so happy?</p><p>-</p><p>Danny hadn't slept very well.</p><p>He'd kept waking up in the night, tossing and turning as he tried to forget remnants of nightmares that wouldn't leave his brain. He felt guilty after every single one of them, like waking up had been a betrayal to the people in the dreams that he'd hurt.</p><p>In the first dream, he'd been back at Amity Park Lanes. The twisted version of Hector had been charging at him, and Danny had screamed.</p><p>He'd thrown all his power into that scream. His intention was to kill.</p><p>But then, before his eyes, the monster had turned into the actual Hector.</p><p>In the next dream, after he'd tossed and turned for hours, it had been Elliot he was fighting. The dream made less sense that time around, jump-cutting from one moment to the next without much flow to what was happening. This was probably because it wasn't a result of actual memories. </p><p>The way dream-Elliot had died was almost identical to dream-Hector's death, except this time, the monster turned into Elliot <em>before </em>Danny killed him.</p><p>And then there had been the last dream. The dream that had finally chased Danny out of bed, though he still technically had another hour before he had to get up.</p><p>In the dream, he'd been in bed, asleep, when he'd heard his cellphone ring. His body had been heavy, like it was filled with lead, and reaching out to grab his phone where it was charging on his nightstand had been an almost impossible feat.</p><p>When he'd answered, the voice on the other end of the line was distorted; unrecognizable. In the dream, that hadn't stopped Danny from knowing who it was anyway.</p><p>
  <em> "Danny?" </em>
</p><p>"Wes?"</p><p>
  <em> "I need help." </em>
</p><p>Danny had tried to sit up but had found his body too heavy. He could barely keep his eyes open.</p><p>"What's wrong?" he asked, or maybe he just thought it. Either way, it didn't matter because dream-Wes didn't need to hear him to answer.</p><p>
  <em> "He's going to kill me." </em>
</p><p>"Who is?"</p><p>"You are."</p><p>Finally, Danny had been able to open his eyes.</p><p>Wes had been standing at the foot of his bed. There was no phone pressed to his ear. Danny didn't even wonder how Wes had gotten into his room. It made sense to him.</p><p><em> Why </em>Wes was in his room was a different story.</p><p>"Wes?"</p><p>"You're killing me, Danny," Wes said.</p><p>He seemed afraid. There was a tremor to his voice that Danny didn't think he'd ever heard before.</p><p>"I don't understand," Danny said.</p><p>Wes fell forward onto the bed.</p><p>Danny was standing behind him, holding a knife.</p><p>There was no blood and no wound on Wes's back. But it was clear what had happened.</p><p>Danny was sitting on the bed, watching himself. The other Danny, a version with red eyes, smirked at him, cocking his head to the side.</p><p>When he spoke, his voice was deep. Familiar.</p><p>"Oops..."</p><p>Danny had woken up with a gasp and hit his head against the ceiling. Apparently, he'd been sleep-floating again.</p><p>Now, Danny stumbled downstairs. He felt more tired than he had before he went to bed.</p><p>He froze at the bottom of the stairs, his ears pricking at the sound coming from the kitchen.</p><p>"Oh, no..." Danny muttered to himself.</p><p>Normally his ghost hearing would have warned him long before he went downstairs. He would have been more prepared for what awaited him if only he hadn't been so occupied with his own subconscious.</p><p>Could this morning get any worse?</p><p>Slowly, Danny inched towards the kitchen.</p><p>Plasmius, in human form, was sitting at the breakfast table, a cup of coffee in front of him. He faked a laugh at one of Jack's terrible ghost hunting jokes and then turned his head to look at Danny, smiling.</p><p>Danny regretted coming downstairs in his pajamas. It was hard to look menacing when you were wearing flannel pants with aliens on them.</p><p>"Good morning, dear boy!" Plasmius said, sounding for all the world like the jovial uncle he pretended to be when Danny's parents were around, though Maddie wasn't there and Jack probably wouldn't have noticed any hostility coming from his 'best friend'. "How did you sleep?"</p><p>"I had nightmares," Danny said, glaring at the older Halfa. "In fact, I think I'm still having one."</p><p>Plasmius raised an amused eyebrow.</p><p>The interaction was lost on Jack.</p><p>-</p><p>
  <strong> won't be at school today. froot loop in town -danny </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> Careful - Tuck </strong>
</p><p>-</p><p>
  <strong> "You called nine one one?" </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> "I thought you were dead!" </strong>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. chapter four: a flirtation with death</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Danny's ghost sense, though it was as familiar as the breath filling and deflating his lungs, was often an unwanted visitor to his daily routine.</p><p>The shiver would travel up his spine as he was eating breakfast, or listening to Lancer drone on, or even just playing videogames with his friends. His shoulders would tense as he'd sigh in disappointment. Danny was as unwilling to bear the weight, or rather the safety, of the world as any teenager would be but he had resolved to carry the responsibility for the people of his town anyway.</p><p>After all, having ghost powers was unnatural. He was a freak. He owed it to the people who were forced to have him around to keep them safe.</p><p>He wasn't aware of his own reasoning, however. Had anybody asked him why he did what he did, his eyebrows would have furrowed and he would have answered with an uncertain: "Well, I kind of have to, don't I?" If pressed, he might have conceded that he felt responsible for making sure the people of Amity Park were safe. But he would not have been able to tell you why.</p><p>Vlad, though with powers nearly identical to Danny's own, was different in every way.</p><p>Perhaps it was his many years of experience; of learning about what he was, that had made him realize he was not lesser than anyone else. Perhaps it was a superiority complex that had only been strengthened by trauma.</p><p>Either way, Vlad did not feel as if he owed anyone anything. In fact, he felt the opposite: the world owed him so much more than he could ever owe it.</p><p>After all, hadn't he been robbed of his youth? Of love? Of any chance at happiness? Wasn't he due some compensation?</p><p>It was a difference of opinion that had shaped the Halfas' entire relationship.</p><p>Neither of them would have been able to say those words out loud. In fact, they'd never sat down long enough to discuss their line of thinking in any real way. Had either of them put any thought into it, they might have realized what made the other person the way they were, but they lacked the insight to find out the same about themselves.</p><p>Still, they were aware that there was something fundamentally different about the two of them, if only subconsciously. And though both of them had wished, at different points in time, that the gap between them could have been easily bridged, this simply wasn't the case.</p><p>They were the only two Halfas in existence. They were mirror versions of each other.</p><p>It was too bad that any bond they could have had over their similarities had been long ago squashed.</p><p>Danny didn't dare look Vlad in the eyes as he made himself a bowl of cereal.</p><p>Jack was rambling: something about the latest updates to the Fenton Bazooka. Vlad hummed at all the appropriate moments, but Danny doubted he was really listening.</p><p>Danny was, though.</p><p>He whirled on his father.</p><p>"It can do what now?"</p><p>Jack paused for a moment, surprised at his son's interest. Danny had made it clear multiple times that he wasn't keen on continuing the family business when he grew up and often seemed scared of any and all things ghost-related.</p><p>Had Jack paid more attention, he might have seen the fear in Danny's eyes now, but it was not a fear of ghosts.</p><p>It was a fear <em>for </em>the creatures.</p><p>Unlike Jack, Vlad saw, as he often did.</p><p>A frown appeared on his face for just a moment, and then he turned his attention back to his 'old friend', wondering what he had missed that had upset his young rival so.</p><p>"It melts ghosts," Jack said happily. "It destroys their core and without it, ghosts can't keep their physical form!"</p><p>Danny blanched. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides. Suddenly, he wasn't sure which of the men currently in the kitchen posed the biggest threat right then.</p><p>"Dad," he said. "That's-"</p><p>"Genius!" Vlad said. His enthusiasm, though clearly fake, made Jack smile. "Jack, you've outdone yourself."</p><p>"Well, shucks," Jack said, blushing. "It was mostly Maddie's idea."</p><p>"Of course, of course," Vlad said. "But still. Attacking a ghosts' core directly... this might be the most effective form of ghost hunting yet! It might change the very essence of parascience!"</p><p>Danny felt like he was about to throw up.</p><p>"And yet..." Vlad frowned, sighing. "Such an offensive weapon. Are you sure it won't hurt humans?"</p><p>"Well, we haven't tested it yet," Jack said. "But it shouldn't."</p><p>"What if it does, though?" Vlad asked. "There's no way to be sure unless a terrible accident happens and, well, we wouldn't want another <em>accident</em>, now would we?"</p><p>Jack reeled back. Clearly, the implications of Vlad's words were like a slap to the face. Still, for once, Danny could not begrudge Plasmius his words at all.</p><p>He didn't like most ghosts he came across, but he didn't want to actually destroy any of them. That was just... too far.</p><p>"I... I guess-"</p><p>But his dad sounded so... heartbroken. Danny couldn't watch him be crushed like that.</p><p>"Oh, I'm sure it's..." Danny gulped. "Not that bad. Most of mom and dad's inventions don't hurt humans," he said. "Besides," he forced a snicker. "What do we care, old man? It's not like we're going to be the ones getting shot at."</p><p>Jack beamed.</p><p>Vlad's eyes flashed red. How could the child be so heedless of his own safety?</p><p>Both Hybrids' priorities did not align. That much was clear.</p><p>But perhaps in some instances, they should have.</p><p>-</p><p>Ripples spread across the water, distorting Kyle's vision of himself.</p><p>Hands stuffed in his pockets, the boy waited for his brother to catch up with him. Wes was being extra slow.</p><p>It was annoying.</p><p>"C'mon, bro, we're gonna be late."</p><p>Wes seemed not to hear him. When he'd reached the part of the path where Kyle was waiting for him, he stopped and looked around in surprise.</p><p>"We're not at school yet?"</p><p>"No, dipshit," Kyle said. "So we better hurry up. Weren't you in a rush to get out of the house just five minutes ago?"</p><p>Wes jutted out his chin.</p><p>"I have to talk to Phantom."</p><p>"Oh, my God." Wes groaned. "That's why you're acting so dumb? I'm sure your boyfriend will be happy to see you, short stack, stop worrying." He flicked Wes's forehead.</p><p>Wes's obsession with that Fenton kid was becoming a problem, really.</p><p>"He's not my <em>boyfriend</em>!" Wes said indignantly, cringing away from Kyle's touch. "And I'm not short."</p><p>It was true. Wes was freakishly tall, really... But Kyle was taller.</p><p>"Sure you aren't," Kyle said. "And you're not younger, either."</p><p>"By two minutes!"</p><p>"Whatever," Kyle said.</p><p>They began to walk again, a little faster this time.</p><p>Kyle was glad that Wes seemed to be back in the present. Sometimes he worried. Wes believed in the paranormal so fiercely that Kyle had to wonder about his mental health.</p><p>Then again, half the town seemed to believe in ghosts. Maybe there was something in the water.</p><p>Kyle wouldn't know. He didn't drink any.</p><p>"So," Kyle said. "What was all that weirdness last night?"</p><p>Wes seemed reluctant to answer.</p><p>"What do you mean?"</p><p>"Bro, you came home acting like a maniac, and you called the fuckin' police."</p><p>"It was a misunderstanding," Wes said. "That's all."</p><p>Kyle knew his brother well enough to notice when he was lying through his teeth. He adjusted his hat as he tried to think of something to say that might make Wes spill.</p><p>"You said Easton was dead, man."</p><p>Kyle hadn't understood much of what Wes had been saying, but he'd understood that much. Not that he had believed it. Easton was one of the few constants in their lives. Kyle didn't think even being hit by a train would keep him away from them.</p><p>But when their big brother had come home alive and well that morning, Kyle had still felt relieved.</p><p>"I thought he was, a..." Wes gulped. "...Dog... attacked him."</p><p>"Well, he seemed fine to me," Kyle said. "Little tired, maybe."</p><p>"Yeah."</p><p>But Wes's shoulders were tense, and his gaze seemed far off again. Clearly, there was something he was neglecting to share.</p><p>He hadn't made much sense last night. What if he was really, truly losing it?</p><p>"Wes..."</p><p>"Kyle."</p><p>The two brothers shared a glance. Kyle was the first to look away.</p><p>Wes didn't <em>look </em>like he was losing it. He looked anxious and like he hadn't slept, but there was no more insanity behind his green eyes than usual.</p><p>If Wes went crazy, Kyle would be able to tell... right?</p><p>"Nevermind," he said.</p><p>They left the park and crossed the street to Casper High. A few people were outside, soaking up the last bits of us sunlight before fall turned into winter, but most of the students had entered the school already. Class was about to start.</p><p>They really were late.</p><p>Wes looked around, no doubt looking for Fenton. Kyle sighed.</p><p>"You know, you could just tell him about your stupid crush so you can both move on."</p><p>"I don't have a crush," Wes said dismissively.</p><p>Kyle almost believed him.</p><p>-</p><p>
  <strong> "Have you gone insane?" </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> "Get lost, froot loop." </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> "Are you so brainwashed by your oaf of a father that you won't even let me protect you from him?" </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> "I don't need your protection. I need you to leave." </strong>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. chapter five: dead and drowning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Something strange is happening with Easton. Wes calls Danny.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Wow. It's been a while since I've updated this! Bet you thought I forgot about it LOL. I haven't, I'm just in the middle of exams and essays and my creativity is all wonky. Sometimes I think I have ideas but then I sit down to write and I get anxious because I could be doing homework instead.</p><p>Anyway, hope you all enjoy this chapter. As always, the writing style isn't the best. This story is about the story, not the quality of writing. When it's finished I might go back and revise given I want to.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Easton stood in the apartment’s tiny kitchen, back against the counter, a glass of water that he slowly sipped from in his hand. Kyle and Wes had left for school a couple of minutes ago. Now that he was alone, he had time to think.</p><p>The clock ticked away at a slow pace. Easton stared at it, eyes following the movement of the red second hand, waiting. He didn’t know what he was waiting for, exactly, but he was waiting for something.</p><p>Another sip of water.</p><p>Another lurch of nausea.</p><p>Abruptly, Easton turned around and threw up into the sink. All that came out of his body was the water he’d just drunk. Then, for a moment, he simply stood there, dry heaving, eyes pressed closed.</p><p>He was cold.</p><p><em> I have to get out of here</em>, he thought.</p><p>He didn’t act on the sudden rush of panic. He had to be here when his brothers came home.</p><p>He stood.</p><p>He waited.</p><p>-</p><p>“Danny-boy!”</p><p>Danny took a deep breath: in through his nose, out through his mouth. He was sitting in front of his computer, half-heartedly working on a school project now that he was at home with nothing to do but wait for his arch-nemesis to mess up and reveal some kind of plan. His dad’s voice, however, had interrupted his train of thought, and now all the words he had previously typed looked like gibberish to him.</p><p>What was he even writing about?</p><p>“Danny? Someone’s on the phone!”</p><p>“Coming, dad!” Danny yelled.</p><p>He glanced at the clock. School had been out for less than ten minutes. It was early for Wes to be calling.</p><p>Danny tried very much not to pay attention to Vlad, who was sat in the living room with a cup of tea, as he picked up the phone from the coffee table and went into the kitchen with it. He knew the elder Hybrid would still be listening to every word he said, but he wanted some semblance of privacy.</p><p>“Hello?”</p><p><em>"Why weren’t you at school today?” </em> Wes asked.</p><p>Danny frowned. Something about the boy’s voice was off. He sounded like he’d cried, or like he wanted to.</p><p>“Are you okay?” Danny asked, without answering.</p><p><em> “I think so. Fuck, I don’t know," </em>Wes took a deep breath.<em>"Something happened last night, but now I don’t know if it really happened, and I-” </em>Another breath. A long moment of silence.<em>“Do people come back from the dead?” </em></p><p>“I mean… that depends on what you mean, dude.” Danny pulled a chair out from the breakfast table and sat down.</p><p>He didn’t know why, because he shouldn’t care about Wes in any capacity, but he felt worried. Maybe the nightly phone calls had had more of an effect on their relationship than he’d thought.</p><p>Or maybe Wes was just one of his people, and Danny protected his people.</p><p><em> “Back-back,” </em>Wes said. <em>"Not dead anymore-back.” </em></p><p>“That doesn’t happen,” Danny said, trying to sound reassuring though he wasn’t sure what exactly Wes was so upset about. “When people die they’re either ghosts or-” he paused, thinking of the spirits he’d sometimes come across. “Or on their way there.”</p><p>
  <em> “Easton got killed last night.” </em>
</p><p>“What?!” Danny was immediately on his feet, panic seizing his throat.</p><p>Another Amity Park citizen had died? And he’d been unable to stop it from happening <em>again</em>?</p><p>
  <em> “But then this morning he just- I saw his dead body, Phantom. I saw some kind of… thing! Rip into his throat! But this morning he came home like nothing happened! He looked so normal. I don’t- Am I going crazy? I don’t understand what’s happening.” </em>
</p><p>Danny could barely focus on Wes’s rushed story. Just then, he wouldn’t have been able to make sense of it if he’d tried.</p><p>Vaguely, he noticed the presence in the doorway behind him. He didn’t turn.</p><p>“Wes, I’m so sorry,” he said.</p><p>
  <em> “Are you listening to me? He’s at home!” </em>
</p><p>“No, I heard you-” Danny said, a half-lie.</p><p>
  <em> “I’m really, really scared.” </em>
</p><p>Fuck.</p><p>What was Danny supposed to do right now? He had to stay home and make sure Vlad didn’t do anything, but at the same time, he felt like he had to go and figure out what was happening with Wes. He couldn’t just leave his house but he had to.</p><p><em> “What if that’s not Easton?” </em>Wes asked.</p><p>Danny blanched.</p><p>The abandoned bowling alley. A corpse. A monster that looked just like the kid it had just killed.</p><p>“Where are you right now?” Danny asked.</p><p>
  <em> “The library.” </em>
</p><p>“Stay there,” Danny said. “I’m on my way.”</p><p>Before Wes could answer, Danny hung up. He put down the phone and turned around, then stopped in his tracks when he saw Vlad standing in the kitchen doorway.</p><p>His head was cocked to the side, his eyes gleaming with peaked interest and something akin to… was that worry or excitement? With Vlad, you never knew.</p><p>“Who was that?” Vlad asked. “You two sounded… familiar with each other, but I don’t think it was one of your little friends.”</p><p>“None of your business, froot loop,” Danny said. “I have to go.”</p><p>He pushed past his nemesis, glancing into the living room where his father was now watching TV, and hurried out the front door.</p><p>He’d have to worry about Vlad later.</p><p>-</p><p>Jazz Fenton didn’t have very many friends.</p><p>Part of it was on her, she figured: she liked to stay in and study rather than going out with her classmates. She enjoyed things most people her age found boring, such as psychology textbooks and poetry. Even more so, whenever someone started a conversation with her she tended to revert to talking about herself. It was a textbook reaction to parental neglect to overshare when someone gave her attention, she knew, but that didn’t make it easier to unlearn.</p><p>Still, over her eighteen years of life, she’d managed to gather a few people around her that she cherished. There was Spike, who was really a good conversationalist once you got him going and who would show up for her no matter what time of the night she called him and vice versa. There was Laura, who was more of an online friend but who she talked to every day and who she would have taken a bullet for.</p><p>And then there was Easton Weston.</p><p>Danny would have most likely killed Jazz if he knew she’d befriended a Weston, but they’d been inseparable ever since Junior year when they’d bonded over their tasks of looking after their siblings. Danny and Wes hadn’t been so hostile towards each other back then. In fact, Jazz had always secretly thought that they’d make good friends if they’d tried.</p><p>Of course, Wes trying to reveal Danny’s secret identity at every fork in the road wasn’t the good basis for a friendship, in fact, it had led to a bit of a rivalry, albeit a semi-friendly one. At least, Jazz assumed as much from the fact that Wes never failed to call their house every evening. At school, the boys were sharp tongues and wicked behavior. At home, Danny’s voice was soft and the smile on his face when Wes spoke to him even more so.</p><p>Not that Jazz was paying attention or anything.</p><p>That being said, Danny would never forgive her if he knew she’d become such good friends with his rival’s brother, and so she’d neglected to tell him. It was an easier secret to keep now that she was only home on weekends.</p><p>“What’s up?” she asked when she answered the phone, having already seen Easton’s name on her display.</p><p>The only sound from her phone’s speaker was rustling.</p><p>“East?” Jazz asked. “You there?”</p><p>There was a shriek; not a sound but the white noise of the phone getting higher before the connection abruptly cut off.</p><p>Jazz pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it for a moment, blinking.</p><p><em> Well</em>, she thought with little concern, <em>that was weird. </em></p>
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